DEA Latest Attack Method On The LA Based Dispensary’s

By going after the buildings owners & threatening to seize their buildings

Dear Community members, As many of you know, over the last 48 hours, Americans For Safe Access has been forwarded numerous letters from the DEA to the landlords of Los Angeles medical cannabis dispensing collectives. The letters are all identical except for the specific information about the collectives and their landlords (such as names and addresses). We have received an initial 17 reports so far. However, the DEA claims to have sent the letters to more than 100 landlords. The letters all say (in less words) that the DEA has identified that you control a property, at XXX address, where a "medical marijuana" dispensary, XXXX Caregivers, is operating. Federal law states that medical marijuana is illegal. Nothing in California law takes precedent over Federal Law, including Prop 215. Federal Law also makes it a crime to knowingly lease to a property used to manufacture or distribute a controlled substance. Federal Law also allows the US government to seize the property if the landlord knows what is happening there. This letter shall serve as notice that there is a dispensary on your property, and you have now been made aware of it. You are advised that further violations of federal law will result in prosecution, imprisonment, fines, and forfeiture of assets (property seizure). It is signed by the head agent of LA field division. A few of the landlords have contacted the DEA, and the DEA confirmed that they sent the letters. They have all been postmarked Friday. The first call we got was Monday morning at 9 AM. We had heard of 3 by the end of the day. We have now seen 17 letters, and heard reports as high as 25. The shops have nothing in common. Some are new, some are old, some are big, and some are small. Many have had no neighbor issues at all. Some see less than 10 patients a day. From what we can tell there is not any specific correlation or connection between any of the collectives who have received them. It seems that the DEA used Weedtracker as the source. An LA collective has their address mislabeled on Weedtracker. Weedtracker is the only place their address is listed like that. The DEA letter sent to the landlord listed the address of the collective as it appears on Weedtracker. As soon as ASA saw that this was not isolated to the first few collectives who reported the letter, we immediately began devising a plan. We also did our best to control initial dissemination of this information for two reasons: 1. We didn't want to tip off local field offices of the DEA or hostile law enforcement about this tactic before responding. 2. We didn't want to alarm the landlord community who had not yet recieved the letters so as not to cause any premature evictions or interuptions in access for patients. We knew this information was going to get out sooner or later. We were doing our best to control exactly how it got out to make sure that it did not go public without a well calculated response. ASA would like to point out that we organize patient-based meetings monthly as well that are open to Brett and many other. They are always the 3rd Saturday of every month from 1-3 PM at CPG, 6208 Santa Monica Blvd, in Hollywood. This is a serious action taken by the DEA, and ASA is working non-stop to find every way we can to fight this. It will take the most calculated and thought-out response we have ever launched, and we are dedicating every resource we have to developing our short-term response and long-term plan. In Solidarity, Chris Fusco LA County Field Coordinator Americans for Safe Access http://www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org